Roger Field

Roger had returned home three days previous following an operation on his knee. He had felt unwell and had stomach pains that day. He’d planned on being out in the garden but felt unable to and, as the evening progressed, he deteriorated and was struggling to breathe. His family called 999. On arrival, the ambulance service assessed Roger’s condition and determined they needed the advanced skills, medication and equipment of a crew from East Anglian Air Ambulance.

When Dr James and CCP Jordan arrived, Roger was in the back of the land ambulance, seriously ill, having been assisted out of the house by the fire service. As CCP Jordan assessed him, Roger suffered a cardiac arrest. What was unknown at the time was Roger had developed a blood clot in his lower intestine, which had caused sepsis. This had triggered a cardiac arrest.

Out of hospital cardiac arrests account for around one in four of our taskings each year. These are life-threatening medical emergencies that require immediate intervention. Roger’s condition was serious; in addition to receiving shocks from a defibrillator, Dr James and CCP Jordan intubated Roger. This procedure is carried out during cardiac arrest management to take over a patient’s breathing.

Dr James and CCP Jordan then carried out a further advanced intervention on Roger called ‘SPEAR’, which stands for Specialist Percutaneous Emergency Aortic Resuscitation. SPEAR helps our clinicians on scene to be more accurate in the management of a cardiac arrest and deliver effective treatment. It can provide real-time feedback regarding the quality of CPR being delivered and indicate whether there is adequate blood supply to a patient’s brain and heart. It involved inserting a needle into Roger’s arteries in his groin to measure his blood pressure beat by beat.

By 22:38 a Return of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC) was achieved and once stabilised, Dr James and CCP Jordan accompanied Roger by land ambulance to the West Suffolk Hospital for further treatment.

Roger says, “The next morning, the hospital prepared my family for the fact that I might not survive. I don’t remember anything, but my family went through a lot. It was touch and go for two weeks.”

Roger was in intensive care for five weeks. He underwent an Ileostomy and kidney dialysis and started his road to recovery, receiving support from our Aftercare service along the way. The charity’s service to local communities goes far beyond the critical care the crews bring to the scene of a medical emergency. We provide an Aftercare service to former patients, their friends and family in the turbulent aftermath of their life changing incident, helping them make the difficult transition back to daily life and beyond. Harry, Clinical Liaison Officer, also facilitated a meeting between Roger and CCP Jordan – one of the crew who attended him back in March.

“This service was really beneficial,” Roger says. “I can’t remember much from that night so I could ask what happened and what they did It helped me to fill in the gaps, and it was good to meet the people who helped me.”

Roger is now back at work and is looking forward to the future, and holidays with the people who matter most – his family. He has a trip to Cornwall booked and, one day, he and Lynn hope to visit Elvis’ Graceland in the USA. But best of all, he was able to attend his son’s wedding – something which means the world to him and his family.